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~Rachel~
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OK, here is a small article I wrote for another homeschool group about Thomas Jefferson Education 
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The Thomas Jefferson Education model is not always synonymous to Charlotte Mason as far as some people are concerned. The truth is that it is very much like Charlotte’s style, and even follows many of her theories. The author of the book is also a Charlotte Mason fan, and an application of her methods is easily seen throughout the core and love of learning phases.
“What?” I hear you ask. “Phases?”
Let me cover the bases.
A Thomas Jefferson Education, is modeled on the famous American President’s own path of learning.
It started with lots of play in the early stages, school as he got older, followed by a distinct learning phase where he spent most of his time reading and learning about the things that interested him. Finally there was a phase where he went in depth with his learning, ably guided by friend and mentor George Wythe.
The first stage, roughly corresponding with the ages 0-8 (± 2 years) is called the Core Phase.
The second stage, corresponding to ages 8-12 (± 2 years) is the Love of Learning Phase (LoL)
The Third Stage is called the Scholar Phase and is from approximately 12 years through age 18, whence begins the Depth Phase. The depth phase lasts a certain amount of time through early adulthood and is finally followed by the Mission of the now mature adult.
Core Phase is the time where the child is taught the basics- right and wrong, good and bad, the basic ideals that you as a parent may have. You spend the time teaching them how to clean up after themselves, how you expect them to behave in church. Learning opportunities are provided to the older core phases, but nothing is pushed at them. This time is meant for teaching your children the basic philosophies and beliefs that you wish them to have. They spend their life learning through play and playing to learn. YOU take the time to educate yourself and provide the best possible example.
Love of Learning is more of an addition to the Core Phase than it’s own separate phase. It naturally flows from the play of the former, evolving into something more approaching conventional school. Like Miss Mason’s philosophies, it does not require a child to spend all day in lessons only the morning. The lessons are kept short and designed to appeal. You as the parent, teach the child what is yours bearing in mind that you are meant to Inspire, not require. Basic concepts are taught, basic skills of reading, writing, simple mathematics and a lot of read alouds are the mainstay of this stage.
Scholar Phase follows from this very naturally. Once a child has learned how to learn, one day they start to want to learn. They spend up to fourteen hours of the day learning at their own instigation. It is here that the bulk of their education is accomplished, and in double quick time. Suddenly they are masters of their own destiny, or they want to aim high for something, and the Scholar phase provides them with the opportunity and means to do this.
Depth Phase is what happens later. Far flung from the Core Phase and LoL Phase where Mum and Dad provided the impetus by being the best role models and mentors that they can be, Depth phase children are now looking far from home for their knowledge and mentor. This is a very personal time of life, when the child must make their own decisions and figure out their own path so that they might achieve the final stage of realizing their mission.
It can be seen from the above, that there is a lot in common with Miss Mason, and a lot not. Thomas Jefferson Education requires something that few other models do… an astute role model in the form of a parent, who teaches a little differently from the established models.
There are five ways of teaching in the Thomas Jefferson Education model.
Tutorial: discussion in a small group of 1-6 students and 1 teacher, all having read the same thing.
Group Discussion: same as a tutorial only with a larger group of 6-30 students. Teacher moderates discussion but does not lead.
Lecture: Best left to outside experts in field of interest... they introduce the subject and talk about it.
Testing: Multiple choice best left alone unless using it to figure a starting point. Should be essay questions designed to make child think.
Coaching: a caring and nurturing guide for all aspects of life... not just academic.
The Thomas Jefferson Education model particularly likes the mentor approach, which is more like coaching than anything else. A mentor provides the child with someone to look up to, to ask questions of, and to be inspired by. This is a role model who really does something for the child.
There are six keys to good mentoring:
1- Use the classics
2- Personalize study plans
3- Keep it simple... read, write and discuss.
4- Apply the lessons of the book to real life situations.
5- Only accept quality work... two grades: Acceptable and Do Again
6- Set the example and learn yourself.
There they are, the basics of A Thomas Jefferson Education. So how is it similar to Charlotte Mason? Charlotte Mason advocated doing nothing to children below the age of seven, and that these children should spend most of their time outside.
Thomas Jefferson Education does not disagree with this statement one bit, but in fact advocates that it might not be best for just those under seven, but some a little older too.
Charlotte Mason advocated short lessons and narration, and the use of living books. Again, Thomas Jefferson Education does not disagree. They advocate staying only within the parameters of time and level that your child gives, not going beyond their comfort zone. They advocate the use of the classics which is their own term for living books. There are seven reasons they use to justify why the classics:
1- The classics teach human nature
2- The classics bring us face to face with greatness
3- The classics take us to the frontier to be conquered
4- The classics force us to think
5- The classics connect us to those who share the stories
6- Our canon becomes our plot (our life plan)
7- Choose a 'National Book' and live by it.
And these reasons can also be used to help identify what a classic is. A Classic is a book which profoundly affects you in some way, shape or form. Like Charlotte’s living books, classics inspire someone, and interest them. A book that is a classic for me is not necessarily a classic for you or others.
Narrations are covered in A Thomas Jefferson Education through means of Oral testing, tutorials and group discussions, all of which are glorified terms for the same thing, discussion of a subject at length with the mentor/peers/siblings/parents (or a combination of all).
Finally, both methods advocate the use of read-alouds. Reading to your child cannot be replaced by other things, a read aloud is a must have in the home… audio books can provide a good back up, but cannot replace the parent reading. The best books should be chosen… according to the guidelines of the ‘classics’ as mentioned before.
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Mary G
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Rachel -- thanks for this review. I had avoided buying the book (my dh only allows SO MANY  ) so this review is quite helpful.
Maybe I can scrunch it into the budget after the New Year 
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MaryG
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~Rachel~
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| Posted: Dec 06 2005 at 12:04pm | IP Logged
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Not all the information is in the TJEd book... it spans three books:
A Thomas Jefferson Education
A Thomas Jefferson Education in Our Home
Core and Love of Learning: A recipe for Success
This is basically broken out from the books I got. TJEd is a *real* book, the other two are booklets.
There is one more booklet for the older crowd:
Scholar Phase
I dont have this one, nor have I read it.
hth
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Mary G
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Rachel -- I read the Tjed book from the library this past summer. Are the supplementals worth getting? I thought the book was ok, but didn't add enough to my knowledge to add to my shelves -- but the supplementals might be worthwhile? What do you think?
Thanks for this review -- this is great information
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teachingmyown
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Mary,
I am not Rachel, but I would recommend the supplementals. They help give a real picture of how a Thomas Jefferson Education works.
I do think it is easier to start with younger kids. I had a hard time knowing how to implement it with a teen. And, for better or worse, my teen is now in school. So I really didn't get a chance to implement the scholar phase, although I should still be encouraging it in addition to his school schedule.
Just my thoughts.
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Molly
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Mary G
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Thanks Molly for the review. Maybe I'll spring for those supplementals in January.
Blessings all!
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~Rachel~
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The supplementals are definitely worth it. The book TJEd outlines something that the supplementals go over in detail on the how to's and why's
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juliecinci
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I really enjoyed reading this.
Do you know, this is how we have homeschooled (or unschooled) largely. I am sure there are differences, but I am seeing in my family a similar progression. My older two kids have moved into the phase of "learning from those besides me" (both online and through in-person lectures). I have found that in going to grad school, I have benefitted so much from having someone else teach - lecture—a person truly qualified to give an in-depth perspective that is not mine. And my example of being a student has had big benefits in homeschool. Some of what we study every year comes straight out of what I'm learning.
My daughter (16) shared the other day how helpful it has been to have an economics class in high school (for instance). She's not enjoyed school in some ways (many ways), but as this semester has moved forward, the econ teacher has really engaged her mind and she is thinking about things she really would not have thought about had it been up to me to teach economics.
Ironically, I am in an ethics class right now that is dealing with global economics and so our conversations are really rich! It is interesting to see that intersection of both of our educations that are outside the home.
My oldest and I are about to complete a semester of New Testament Greek. It has been wonderful to be in a class together - we've had the chance to discuss the lectures, to learn together and apart.
I am also really glad to hear that TJ talks about personalizing study plans! My middle child (14) is following The Well Trained Mind this year, but we have tailored it to fit his personality. He is doing a lot more writing this year as he learns how to express his learning in concrete form (rather than so much oral). But he talks all the time too.
Anyway, rambling. I was with a friend yesterday who said to me, "I didn't know you did anything with your kids. I thought you unschooled."
I smiled.
"I do 'unschool' in that I don't use text books or schoolish scopes and sequences, tactics or techniques to inspire learning. Rather, we use life, our interests, good books, great stories, history, math and sciences as our inspiration for a rich life... and I spend every morning with my kids at their disposal."
We then talked about the content of those mornings.
Why do I go on?
I guess it is just amazing to me to see how various "ways" of expressing the same ideas show up over and over again. Perhaps rather than identifying with labels, we'd do well to come up with guiding principles taken from the "styles" learning that inspire us.
When I think of the Brave Writer Lifestyle I've tried to capture in words, I come back to a few principles:
--Create a language rich environment (learning rich)
--Stimulate the imagination through nature, art, music, story and poetry
--Share meaningful time together (hence, teatimes)
--Talk a lot before writing
--Stay engaged in your own education so that there is a wonderful reciprocity to learning - you share; they share
--Do what it takes to be happy... joy really is the best teacher
--Pay attention to the developmental process your child is in and be true to it, trusting it will lead to the next one. Don't push too fast or move too slowly.
Thanks for sharing yet another stimulating way of conceiving of the adventure of learning!
Julie
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~Rachel~
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You're welcome Julie... thank YOU for sharing your experiences!
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Leonie
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rachel,
Thank you for sharing this review.
The book sounds interesting - the only thing I am hesitant about is the phases and ages thing.
I find my kids don't seem to typically fit into the usual stage mentioned in books. That was one thing I noted after reading both The Well Trained Mind and DYOCC.
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~Rachel~
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The one thing that TJEd specifies regarding the AGES, is that they differ for ALL children, and they only give a guideline of when they usually happen... they point out that you just have to see you own children and figure out when they are there themselves. They also point out that the symptoms of the 'phases' vary from child to child too .
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Leonie
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I figured that would be it - thanks, Rachel!
My kids are often eager beaver scholars at around age 5 and 6 and hit a hormones, less visible learning happening stage around age 13 or so. Then they seem to leap in maturity at around age 15 or 16.
Making generalizations here.
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Leonie wrote:
less visible learning happening stage around age 13 or so. Then they seem to leap in maturity at around age 15 or 16.
Making generalizations here.
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Leonie -- I'm so glad you're making generalizations -- my 16 yos hasn't leaped yet! 
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MaryG
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~Rachel~
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Leonie... they all fall into the broad age range that TJEd suggests then... it is nice to hear of the different stages from people who have been there 
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Leonie wrote:
My kids are often eager beaver scholars at around age 5 and 6 and hit a hormones, less visible learning happening stage around age 13 or so. Then they seem to leap in maturity at around age 15 or 16.
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Yes, and Leonie's are boys -- a girl might do this maturity leap a year or so younger, mine did.
I find that a 12yo or 13yo makes a leap up in capability but slides down in motivation. My present 12yo CAN do better work than he did last year but it is much less inclined to WANT to. He's also sleeping more so I think it is hormones and needing time to consolidate the physical and mental growth.
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Willa
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Willa
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juliecinci wrote:
When I think of the Brave Writer Lifestyle I've tried to capture in words, I come back to a few principles:
--Create a language rich environment (learning rich)
--Stimulate the imagination through nature, art, music, story and poetry
--Share meaningful time together (hence, teatimes)
--Talk a lot before writing
--Stay engaged in your own education so that there is a wonderful reciprocity to learning - you share; they share
--Do what it takes to be happy... joy really is the best teacher
--Pay attention to the developmental process your child is in and be true to it, trusting it will lead to the next one. Don't push too fast or move too slowly.
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Julie,
I just had to set this in quotes. It's great. Thanks for summing it up so well. Honestly, it ties up some of the things I see in common with unschooling, classical education (rightly understood ) and CM.
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Willa
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DogwoodMama
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Is this in a public forum anywhere I could link to, the review? Some folks I know in another forum were interested in a review, and that's a great review. :)
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~Rachel~
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Not that I know of, but you can copy and paste it with my blessing so long as you credit me Rachel P. Is sufficient. 
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~Rachel~
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Willa
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It's funny to see this old thread revived.
The then-12 year old is now 14 and he made the leap... or rather, I think he's making it right now. He's a less scholarly temperament than some of my others but he is taking his "stuff" much more seriously, setting goals for himself and persevering through the tough parts.
He's not ready to send out into the world yet, but I have seen him change. Whew, one more through the gate . It's nice to see it work with four kids so far.
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Willa
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BrendaPeter
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Willa wrote:
The then-12 year old is now 14 and he made the leap... or rather, I think he's making it right now. He's a less scholarly temperament than some of my others but he is taking his "stuff" much more seriously, setting goals for himself and persevering through the tough parts.
He's not ready to send out into the world yet, but I have seen him change. Whew, one more through the gate . It's nice to see it work with four kids so far. |
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Just read this Willa, phew! My oldest is like your 14-year-old & I'm starting to get little glimpses of his taking things more seriously. I have been saying for years, that I'd just breathe a sigh of relief one day BUT it can be challenging when it's the eldest one who is like this. Poor kid, we've had to learn so much on him .
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Brenda (mom to 6)
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4Real Forums : Philosophy of Education
Topic: A Thomas Jefferson Education
